TORONTO — Diversity in Israel’s diplomatic corps has come a long way.

So it was no surprise to learn that the director of the department for religious affairs in the Foreign Ministry, Bahij Mansour, a Druze, was recently in Canada beseeching Christian groups to stay strong in their support of Israel.

Mansour, 56, served 16 years in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and is the country’s former ambassador to Angola. He was in Toronto last week spreading a message of pro-Israel activism to the Canadian churchgoing community. He also is trying to drum up more co-operation between the Vatican and the Holy Land, he said.

“The Christian communities in the Middle East are staying quiet” in the face of tyranny and trying not to make waves, Mansour said, referring to the current strife in Syria and the growing power of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

“This is a bad tactic, in my opinion. Why? Since 2007, more than two million Christians have fled the region,” he said.

That exodus, he said, leaves more room for radical Islamists to overrun and supplant historical Christian sites and neighbourhoods, which weakens the fabric of the region.

Mansour said that as a Druze he sympathizes with both the Jewish and Christian communities because his people have also been “persecuted” by Muslims.

“The Sunni and the Shia both call the Druze traitors, because we believe there were other prophets after Muhammad,” a position that is considered heretical according to radical Islam, which considers Muhammad the final prophet.

In his role as director of religious affairs, Mansour said he comes into contact with all religious groups in Israel, and he identifies as an Israeli first and then as a Druze.

Asked how it feels to be a minority in a Jewish state, Mansour was unequivocal in his response.

“We share the country and our lives with all the Jewish people in Israel,” he said. “We are aware of the Jewish destiny and many events have happened to put the Druze and the Jews on the same side. We are comfortable living in a Jewish state.”

He said while the Druze represent just slightly more than one per cent of the total Israeli population, Mansour said they have “a lot of influence.”

Mansour scoffed at the idea that Israel practises apartheid.

“When the Knesset has 14 non-Jewish members, this does not mean there is apartheid. Israel’s not perfect, but at least it has the dignity to say that it realizes there are socio-economic gaps between Arab-Israelis and Jewish-Israelis” and that it’s working on repairing that, he said.

“It’s important for Israel to close the gap between the minority and the majority,” Mansour said.

He added that what’s good for Israel is good for the Druze – namely, a secure Jewish state that can survive surrounded by its frequently hostile Arab neighbours.

On the topic of Christians in the Middle East, Mansour said he’s urging Christians worldwide to move to Israel and cement their hold on their own holy sites.

“Otherwise, they might be overrun by Muslims wishing to wipe out minorities,” he said.

This is Mansour’s last year in his role with the department of religious affairs. In August, he will once again assume an ambassadorship, this time as Israel’s chief envoy to Nigeria.

His parting message to Christian communities in the West is to realize the “new situation” in the Middle East and take appropriate action.

“If you will continue to be silent, it will be too late. There are no second chances in the Middle East,” he said.

“If Israel loses one war, it will be the end of the Jewish state and all [non-Muslim] religious holy sites. It will also be the end of minorities… who will be endangered.”